


Precious

by xxx_cat_xxx



Series: Pepperony Moments [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Drabble, F/M, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Pregnancy, Sickfic, Tony Feels, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-28 21:37:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17190770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxx_cat_xxx/pseuds/xxx_cat_xxx
Summary: What if… I gave in to the temptation and wrote a pregnant Pepper drabble. Because when, if not on Christmas, are we allowed to askWhat If?





	Precious

Tony wakes up to the all-too familiar sound of retching carrying over from the bathroom. He closes his eyes for a moment, wishing that once he’d open them, it would turn out to be just another bad dream.

But it isn’t. Pepper, all messy hair and naked feet, is on her knees in front of the toilet, elbows propped up on the seat, coughing up remnants of something Tony doesn’t want to identify.

“Stay outside,” she pants between heaves, waving one hand at him. “You don’t have to see that.”

“I wasn’t planning on it.”

But when she finally lets her head fall onto the toilet rim, heaving breaths slowly calming down, and he gets afraid that she’ll simply fall asleep here and now, he enters anyways, careful to press the flush without looking before resting one of his hands on her shoulder.

“I know this is your new favourite place in the house, but there’s this huge and extraordinarily soft twin bed just a few steps away…,” he teases while handing her a wet cloth to wipe down her face.

“Just- don’t talk right now, okay?” Pepper turns her head and gives him an exhausted glare. She is paler than usual, but her cheeks are flushed. Tony strokes her hair back with one hand and notices the heat coming off her neck.

“This is not just morning sickness, is it? You’re a little warm.”

“I don’t know.” She shrugs, shivers a little. “Think I caught a bug or something.”

“Should we call a doctor? I’ve got someone at the medbay twenty-four/seven, as of recently….”

“Maybe in the morning. I’m okay for now, just tired, really tired.”

“Okay. If you say so.” Pepper is the responsible one, and also probably the only person in the tower he trusts to be honest about her health.

She’s still breathing short, and from the way she leans on him during the few steps back to the bed he can tell that she’s a little dizzy. She curls into the blankets on her side of the bed as soon as he helps her lie down, and when he returns from the bathroom after fetching a glass of water, she is already almost asleep.

Tony slides into the bed, facing her, but he knows that sleep is not going to come to him now. Dawn is just breaking, and the pale light entering through the windows is just enough for him to make out the features of her face.

The dark lashes contrasting with her pale skin. The first few wrinkles around her eyes. The unkempt hair - she looks so unlike the vigorous CEO of Stark Industries at this moment, but somehow that makes her even more beautiful. Oh, Tony loves the make-up and the glitter and the tight-fitting business costumes alright, make no mistake. But this - getting to see this rare, softer side of her, after all the years, still feels like something special, like a glimpse behind the scenes that he doesn’t actually deserve.

All of the sudden is strikes him how precious she is. How fragile. Something clenches inside him at the thought of how easily she could be broken. _Never._

Pepper is not the cuddly type, so he gives her space, loosely rests a hand on her hip. When her breathing has evened out and all tension has left her face, he lets his fingers run lightly over her stomach, down till the point where it’s minimally swollen. He stops there, hovering just above the surface of her skin, feeling her warmth.

Pepper is barely showing yet, her business blouses easily concealing anything that might be visible. They haven’t told the public yet. Nor anyone else. In the hectic shuffle of the day-to-day, there hasn’t been time to call their few close friends, and Pepper doesn’t have any relatives that would need to be informed, her parents dead long-since. Just like his own…

Tony thinks of his father, of his A+ parenting skills, of how he sometimes, in anger, can hear Howard Stark in his own voice, and anxiety mixes with the anticipation in his guts.

He will be better than that. He needs to be.

Tony lets his eyelids drift shut for an instant, but then he opens them again, because space is looming just behind them, vast and void and all-consuming.

Quietly, and just because he is certain that nobody else can see, he leans over and plants a kiss on Pepper’s hand, her forehead, her stomach. Sends a silent promise out into the universe, and a wish.

_Keep them save._

**Author's Note:**

> This was short and sweet, but it was written for Christmas, so I have an excuse. Also, my holidays sucked big time, and I needed this. I hope that y´all will get into 2019 safely! It was the best decision this year to start writing and I´m happy and grateful to so many people I met on this platform, it is awesome that you exist. 
> 
> If you want to leave a comment, it always makes me happy, and find me [here](https://xxx-cat-xxx.tumblr.com/) on tumblr.


End file.
